Tag: First for Beijing

On Saturday I made my first visit to Ma Chang/Yeyahu for a few weeks and boy, was it worth it?! The autumn migration is now in full swing. The highlight was undoubtedly the juvenile/first winter Little Gull that I found feeding on the reservoir before it gained height and flew strongly east. Despite being almost annual on the Bohai coast, I believe this is the first record for the Beijing municipality. Coming a close second was a stunning Short-toed Eagle that drifted right overhead near Yeyahu lake. Wow.

Record shot of Beijing's first Little Gull at Yeyahu NR, 17 September 2011Short-toed Eagle, Yeyahu, 17 September 2011Short-toed Eagle, Yeyahu, 17 September 2011

Other good birds include a very early crane sp that was soaring very distantly over the mountains to the north. I initially assumed this must have been a Common Crane but I noticed dark secondaries and this is more consistent with Demoiselle Crane. Common Cranes are very scarce at this time of year, in fact I don’t think any have been recorded in September, whereas Demoiselle should be leaving its breeding grounds in Inner Mongolia about now. It’ll have to go down in the book as a crane sp. Also seen were 5 Chinese Grey Shrikes, including a very instructive juvenile that superficially looked a little like ssp pallidirostris (Steppe Grey Shrike), a heavily leucistic Black-tailed Godwit, a Ruff (very scarce in Beijing, possibly the 4th record for the municipality) as well as many passerine migrants – Little Buntings, Eurasian Skylarks, Yellow Wagtails, Richard’s Pipits and so on…

Ruff (Philomachus pugnax) – 1, seen well in flight and appeared to go down on the edge of the reservoir between Ma Chang and Yeyahu

Black-headed Gull (Chroicocephalus ridibundus) – 27

Little Gull (Hydrocoloeus minutus) – 1, a juvenile/first winter seen well but briefly over the reservoir at the east end of Ma Chang. After ‘dip-feeding’ a couple of times, gained height and flew strongly east.

Whiskered Tern (Chilidonias hybrida) – at least 12

Oriental Turtle Dove (Streptopelia orientalis) – 4

Common Kingfisher (Alcedo atthis) – 3

Grey-headed Woodpecker (Picus canus) – 1

Brown Shrike (Lanius cristatus) – 1

Chinese Grey Shrike (Lanius sphenocercus) – 5 seen, one of which I originally thought could be a ssp of Great Grey (see photos).

Black Drongo (Dicrurus macrocercus) – 2

Common Magpie (Pica pica) – many

Crow sp (Corvus sp) – a group of 6 soaring around mid-day were probably Carrion Crows

Chinese Penduline Tit (Remiz consobrinus) – two heard

Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica) – only 3 seen

Eurasian Skylark (Alauda arvensis) – at least 60 ssw early morning and small groups encountered between Ma Chang and Yeyahu